1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure are directed to integrated circuits containing non-volatile memory cell arrays and particularly those arrays incorporating passive element memory cells.
2. Description of the Related Art
Materials having a detectable level of change in state, such as a resistance or phase change, are used to form various types of non-volatile semiconductor based memory devices. For example, simple antifuses are used for binary data storage in one time field-programmable (OTP) memory arrays by assigning a lower resistance initial physical state of a memory cell to a first logical state such as logical ‘0,’ and assigning a higher resistance physical state of the cell to a second logical state such as logical ‘1.’ Some materials can have their resistance switched back in the direction of their initial resistance. These types of materials can be used to form re-writable memory cells. Multiple levels of detectable resistance in materials can further be used to form multi-state devices which may or may not be re-writable.
Materials having a memory effect such as a detectable level of resistance are often placed in series with a steering element to form a memory cell. Diodes or other devices having a non-linear conduction current are typically used as the steering element. The memory effect of the cell is often referred to as the state change element. In many implementations, a set of word lines and bit lines are arranged in a substantially perpendicular configuration with a memory cell at the intersection of each word line and bit line. Two-terminal memory cells can be constructed at the intersections with one terminal (e.g., terminal portion of the cell or separate layer of the cell) in contact with the conductor forming the respective word line and another terminal in contactor with the conductor forming the respective bit line. Such cells are sometimes referred to as passive element memory cells.
In some cases, bias conditions during read and write operations are an important consideration when implementing non-volatile memory arrays having passive element memory cells comprising switchable resistance materials or phase change materials as the state change element. High bias conditions applied to program these cells can restrict the endurance of the steering element. High leakage currents, program disturbances, read disturbances, etc. can pose difficulties when attempting to produce a memory device comprising one or more arrays of passive element memory cells that can be reliably fabricated, programmed, and read. Moreover, slight differences between individual memory cells can pose difficulty when attempting to program multiple cells individually or concurrently.